Page 73 of Blue Jean Summer

I took a breath and looked at Hayes. “I do.”

“And Hayes Thomas Wilder, do you come here of your own free will?”

The answer should have been no. Hayes was being strong-armed into this. But he looked me in the eye and nodded. “I do.”

The minister looked out among the crowd. “Before we proceed with the vows, is there anyone present who sees any reason that these two should not be wed?”

“I object!” Lewis shouted, jumping out of his seat.

Hayes huffed in annoyance, but his hold on my hands remained as gentle as ever.

Lewis started to stomp toward the minister, but Mason and Levi were faster, each taking one of Lewis’s arms and dragging him to the back of the crowd. To my surprise, Warren Grey had made an appearance, standing behind the last row of chairs. He seemed to take great delight in relieving Mason and Levi of the man, and marched him into the house, holding a fistful of the neck of Lewis’s tailcoat suit as Mason and Levi returned to their seats.

“Sorry about that,” Levi said with a grin and a flourish of his hand. “Proceed.”

I bit back a laugh.

“Well,” the minister said as he dabbed his forehead. “Shall we continue?”

“Maybe we should skip to the vows,” I said.

The minister flipped a few pages ahead in his book. “Catherine, do you take Hayes as your lawfully wedded husband? To live together in holy matrimony. To love, protect, and to cherish him. For richer or poorer. For better or for worse. In sickness and in health. As long as you both shall live?”

“I do.”

“Hayes, do you take Catherine as your lawfully wedded wife? To live together in holy matrimony. To love, protect, and to cherish her. For richer or poorer. For better or for worse. In sickness and in health. As long as you both shall live?”

Hayes didn’t hesitate. “I do.”

Those two syllables stopped my heart, and the world began to spin. Hayes’s tender gaze was too much to bear. I glanced toward the house for a moment to regain my composure, and spotted Lewis—who was now an alarming shade of purple—animatedly shouting at Warren Grey, who paid him no mind. From the front row, his date couldn’t be bothered to look up from her phone and was unfazed that Lewis had been dragged out of the ceremony.

“Catherine, if you would take Hayes’s ring, put it on his left hand, and repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed.”

I regained my composure as I pulled Hayes’s wedding band from my pocket. This is just a show. The butterflies aren’t because of real feelings. It’s stage fright. It has to be.

I took a breath and slid the ring onto his finger. “With this ring, I thee wed.”

“Hayes, if you’ll do the same to Catherine and repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed.”

Hayes calmly produced a ring from his pocket and took my left hand, slowly sliding it on. “With this ring, I thee wed.”

It wasn’t the words that took my breath away. It was the ring.

Hayes had insisted on picking them up from the jeweler himself, and I had never thought to ask to see mine before today.

The ring wasn’t the simple gold band that matched his. It was the showstopping design wrapped in diamonds that I had insisted was too much.

“Hayes,” I whispered as I looked up at him.

He read my mind. “It was the right ring. I wasn’t going to let you settle.”

“By the power vested in me by the Commonwealth of Virginia, I pronounce you man and wife. Mr. Wilder, you may kiss your bride.”

There was no hesitation. Hayes moved in before I could blink, before I could take a breath. He didn’t put his hands on my waist or dip me backward in a dramatic kiss. He cupped my cheeks and met me in a kiss that was just for us.

It was sweet, like the dogwoods that lined the lane, stretching their branches to meet each other. It was soft like the breeze that flowed down from the mountains. It was shrouded in secret, keeping it sacred like the first kiss we had shared by the pond. It was warm, like the sunlight that brought each rosebud to bloom.

The crowd stood, breaking into applause as Hayes smiled against my lips.